The Demon Inside
by Ivy Crimson
Summary: When a saturday night reading manga turns into an adventure through Konoha, my best friend and I get stuck trying to find our way back. The hardest part is keeping it from everyone there while still trying to survive. roughly Nejixoc and gaaraxoc.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so what was I doing in Small Town Minnesota this Saturday night with my bff, Kylie? We were watching Naruto, laughing our heads off and munching on popcorn and Walmart Pocky. Geeky? Definitely. Nerdy? That's us. We were complete and utter goofballs. And yes, we were aware of the patheticness of spending a Saturday night watching anime instead of going out to the football game (steroid boys tackling eachother over a ball….yeah THAT requires a lot of brains). It was thunderstorming outside, so I imagined the game had been canceled anyway.

"Okay, Neji versus Gaara, who wins?" Kylie asked, chomping down on two more pieces of strawberry pocky.

"Gaara," I decided. "Neji has a great defense, but it can only last a few seconds it seems like, he can't keep it up forever."

Kylie nodded. She was a complete Gaara freak. Obsessed with the redheaded insomniac ridden kid. I glanced out the window nervously as another bright flash of lightening and loud rumbling thunder shook the house. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind thunderstorms, it was just a little too close for comfort.

But back to our Naruto preferences, I, on the other hand, preferred the arrogant pretty boys like Neji and Sasuke. It was sad, I know, but what can I do? Can't help who ya like.

I glanced at the clock, we were nearing 4am already, jeeze we'd been at this way too long.

"I think it's time to hit the sack," I told kylie, suppressing a yawn. She'd come over at 7pm and we'd been holed up in my room ever since talking about Naruto, watching episodes, and doing other geeky things like that.

"Alright," she agreed, "but I want to check one more thing." She bounced up and out of the room, coming back a minute later with a naruto manga. "Okay let's see here…" she flipped open the page, but it was so dark she couldn't see it. "Hit the lights, would ya?"

I nodded, walking over and flipping the switch. Just as I did, a flash of lightening hit the house, I felt it connect through my hand, and everything went dark.

I groaned as I slowly started to wake up. My head was pounding, and my bed felt unusually uncomfortable. I heard voices too. What the hell was going on?

I opened my eyes slowly, wincing at the bright light.

"Hey, this one's waking up." A voice said. It was oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it. As my eyes started to focus I realized I wasn't in my bedroom, and I wasn't in my bed. I was on the ground, in the middle of a freaking forrest.

Also, as I sat up and turned around to see who the voices were, I blinked and blinked and blinked.

Naruto, Kiba, Ino, and Shikamaru were all watching me. Wtf…

I snapped out of my shock and jumped on my feet. "OI! Who..what the…how did..what's going on?" Okay, don't panic don't panic. I looked around and noticed Kylie a few feet away.

I knelt down next to her and shook her hard. "Kylieeeeeeeeeee!" I yelled in her ear. "Wake up!"

She jolted awake, shooting straight up. "I'm awake, I'm awake! What do you want?" she paused as she looked around. "Umm…we weren't drinking last night were we?"

"Turn around." I ground out. It's just a dream its just a dream.

I plugged my ears, and just as I expected, a moment later a shrill scream pierced the air.

"OH MY GOD!" Kylie screamed. "but how?" she looked at me with huge eyes.

"I dunno."

Finally the four decided it might be a good idea to intervene in whatever is going on.

Naruto walked forward. "I'm Naruto! Future Hokage! Who are you two? And why were you unconscious out here? Were you training?"

I blinked at him. "Um…no. I don't know how we got here….we were at my house last I checked and we kind of just woke up here."

Kylie was bustling with energy, so I elbowed her to calm her down.

Shikamaru looked at us bored. "Where was your house? Is it in the Leaf Village?"

"Umm. No. It's a bit hard to explain, we're not from around here." We couldn't tell them we were from another world could we?

Ino stepped forward. "Do you guys want to see Lady Tsunade? She can probably help you."

"Yeah," I said slowly, standing up and helping Kylie to her feet. "That'd be great."

Akamaru launched at us suddenly. I yelped and caught him a few inches from my face, staring at his little puppy eyes as he wagged his tail and sniffed me, barking something to Kiba.

"Sorry about that." Kiba said brightly as Akamaru jumped out of my hands and onto the ground, sniffing Kylie's feet (poor dog) and running back over to Kiba. "Akamaru says they're not dangerous."

I looked at Kylie, then down at myself. I was still wearing my jeans and teeshirt from yesterday and Kylie was still in her clothes too. What gave them the idea we were dangerous?

We let the quartet lead us into town. It was bustling with people and shops and ninjas running around excitedly doing this or that. I didn't recognize anyone off the top of my head, but Kylie and I got some weird stares as we were escorted to the Hokage's office in the middle of town.

I elbowed Kylie subtly as Naruto and Ino bickered something about Sasuke. "We can't tell them we're from another world." I muttered to her softly, keeping an eye on all four ninjas to make sure they couldn't hear me.

Kylie had calmed down and nodded slightly. "Yeah, and do you know where in the timeline we're at?"

"No idea, though it looks like it's before Sasuke ditched and after the chunin exams since Tsunade is Hokage." I muttered.

"So how do we explain all of this?" She whispered. "And how do we get back?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could play amnesia?"

"Nah, you already said we woke up here and weren't from our homes, so that implies memory. What about destroyed village?"

"They'd probably go looking for proof of that." I said grimly.

"Do you think we can do jutsu?" Kylie asked excitedly, though still in a whisper.

Again, I shook my head in an I-don't-know fashion. Too soon we had to shut up, since we were at the door to Tsunade's office.

"Granny Tsunade," Naruto exclaimed as soon as he walked through the door. "We found some really weird girls outside the village that want to talk to you!"

Kylie and I sweatdropped as a vein appeared on Tsunade's head. "Don't call me Granny you little twerp!" She slammed him on the head, leaving a large bump popping out of his hair.

The four ninja excused themselves and left us alone with the scary sanine.

We settled ourselves in our chairs and waited for her to talk.

"Okay ladies, let's start with who are you two?" she said, completely business.

"I'm Kylie Turner, and this is my friend Tawny Brooks." Kylie introduced politely. Maybe it'd be better if I let her do all the talking.

Tsunade looked at me though and asked. "How did you get to this village?"

"We woke up here." I answered honestly. I quickly tried to think of a decent explanation.

"and where were you before this?" she asked.

I bit my lip and looked at Kylie.

"Lady Tsunade, It's hard for us to explain. We don't know how we got here, but we were at my house, and lightening hit it. When we woke up, we were in the forest."

Tsunade looked skeptical. "And in what village is your house?"

Again, Kylie and I looked at eachother, not knowing what to say.

"Ladies," Tsunade said in a low voice. "I can't help you if you don't answer me honestly."

"Do you believe in other worlds?" I asked finally. Kylie elbowed me hard. What else could we do though?

"What kind of other worlds?"

"ones without chakra, and ninjas, and things like that." I said.

"Chakra is a life force in everyone. Without it, we wouldn't be here today." She looked like she was thinking of something. "So you girls are from another world huh?" she didn't believe us for a second, and that was obvious. "Well chakra sometimes can have signatures, depending on where you were raised and trained."

"Um..we weren't trained." Unless high school counts…

She shrugged, picking up a phone and calling for none other than Neji Hyuga. He was walking in the door in all his arrogant glory less than three minutes later.

"Neji, I want you to use your Byakugan to see if you can find any chakra signatures that can help us pinpoint where these girls are from. They seem to have become lost." Tsunade said, looking us both over once.

Neji nodded and made a hand sign. His Byakugan activated and I watched as the veins popped out by his eyes and he looked at us…or more accurately through us.

"That isn't possible." He said, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Have you found any distinguishing characteristics?" Tsunade asked briskly.

"No," he answered simply. "They do not have a Chakra network." I saw Kylie visibly slump in disappointment. No doubt she wanted to be able to be a cool ninja while we were here. I was a bit disappointed myself.

Tsuande shook her head. "Impossible. Could your Byakugan be incorrect?"

He shook his head. "I see my chakra network, your chakra network, the chakra networks of those on either side of your office, but these two do not have one."

Sometimes…I hated being right.


	2. Chapter 2

Quick note, the pairings aren't perfect yet, but Kylie's pairing will be less noted than the main character's romance, and I may be changing the rating and such over time as well. If you have any suggestions and/or ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear them, and I hope you enjoy the story

Back to the Story

After a couple hours of intense questioning, and little answers, Tsuande made the decision to let us stay in the village on one condition. Apparently there were still too many missions for the ninjas to handle by themselves due to recent events (which I assumed to mean the mess of the chunin exams), so we were to be trained as ninjas…without any chakra, previous experience, or frigging clue how to do it. Did I mention how terrible I was in gym class?

So yeah, lots of fun in store. We didn't know who we'd be training with, though Tsuande did say we would be added to a Genin squad each. Now, though, we were being led by a Jounin to our new home.

Kylie and I were both quiet, and I watched as shops slowly began closing up for the day as we made our way through town. It was already beginning to get dark, and the light glimmered off of the stone Hokage faces (which, I might add, were much more impressive in person). Children were finding their parents, and through the windows I could see some families having dinner. It was a lovely scene.

"This is it," the Jounin said, standing in front of a door to an apartment. "You both will be living here for the time being."

"Alright, thank you," Kylie said, looking more somber than she usually did. Kylie was the type to always find the good in everything, to be excited for things that most people would be terrified over. It was a bit unsettling to see her so quiet.

The Jounin gave us each a key, and went back to his post. Kylie unlocked the door and we both walked in.

It was a pretty basic layout. There was a livingroom with two couches and a tv, a basic kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. It wasn't super small, though it wasn't a condo either.

"Which room do you want?" I asked Kylie,

She glanced in them both briefly and chose the one closest to the door.

I walked into my room, sitting gingerly on the bed and thinking. There wasn't much we could do to get home at this point, and if we wanted to stay in the village, we were going to have to work. Since we didn't have chakra, we'd be limited to learning taijutsu (again, TERRIBLE at gym class). We were going to need clothes, food, probably some weapons and stuff too, but we didn't have any money to get those things with. Basically for now we were stuck.

I left my room, and noticed Kylie's door was shut. I knocked twice before opening it and going inside. Kylie was laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn't even glance at me as I walked in and plopped down on the bed beside her.

"So what's wrong Ky?" I asked, laying back and observing the bumpy, white ceiling.

"Two things." She said.

I waited for her to go on but she didn't, so I prompted her with a "And those are…?"

She sighed and turned onto her side, facing me. I mirrored her, seeing how worried she was from her hazel eyes. Kylie had always been pretty. She had short brown hair and glowing hazel eyes. She always knew what was good to where and what was better left in the closet, and she was my go-to person whenever I couldn't decide what to wear.

Me, on the other hand, I had long, straight, dirty blonde hair that I usually kept down and very aqua blue eyes. I was one of those people who, when I found a style I liked, I stayed with it. I didn't like changing my appearance, and when I did, it had to be for a damn good reason. Unlike my best friend, I was usually shy, and I tried to stay out of the spotlight if I could. I was smart though, and I always got straight As in my classes.

"The first is I miss home. Don't get me wrong, this is so amazing and weird and freaky…but I'm scared that we won't be able to find our way back." She said, biting her lip. I had avoided thinking too much about home, and how we were going to get back. In the back of my mind, I knew we probably wouldn't be able to find a way back, but I tried not to think about it at all.

"What's the other reason?" I asked, hoping I could make her feel better at this one.

"Neji said we don't have any chakra. We can't be half-decent ninjas without chakra." She sniffled.

"What about Rock Lee? He can't use any of his chakra, and he is an awesome ninja." I pointed out.

"Lee worked his ass off for years and years and years to be good. You know as well as I do that we'd never be able to have that kind of stamina and determination." We actually had that conversation before, talking about if we could do what Lee did, and we'd both decided there wasn't a chance in hell we could be that persistent.

"You're right. We're screwed." I sighed, falling onto my back again and staring at the ceiling. "But it's not like we can do anything about it. It's possible that we haven't been here long enough for our chakra to develop, but it may still appear if we're here long enough."

"You think so?" Kylie asked hopefully. I could tell how much she wanted this.

"I honestly don't know Ky, it's just a theory, I'm not exactly an expert on this sort of stuff." I mean, has this sort of thing ever happened before?

"Yeah, you're right." She said, though she sounded a bit more energetic now, which I was glad for. One of us needed to be optimistic, and that generally wasn't my job.

It was dark outside, so I said my goodnights to Kylie, and headed back off to my room. After much tossing and turning, I gave up on sleep and wandered into the kitchen. There was a little bit of food in the fridge, so I made myself up a bowl of ramen and poured myself a glass of orange juice.

I didn't bother turning the lights on for my meal, it seemed more peaceful as it was, and I relaxed in the shadows as I munched on Naruto's favorite meal.

After I cleared my bowl, I put them in the sink and laid down on the couch, looking out the window where a full moon was shining brightly down over the village, not a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful.

I relaxed there and closed my eyes, and before I knew it, sleep fell over me.

"Tawn!" Kylie was shaking me.

I groaned and hit her with a pillow. "Five more minutes." I mumbled, burying my face deeper into the couch.

Why was she at my house so early? Did mom let her into my room?

As I slowly started to wake up, the events from yesterday came flooding back. I shot into the air and looked around the apartment. Nope, not a dream, still in Konoha.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" Kylie said brightly, walking back over to the kitchen where I smelled eggs cooking.

"You're up awfully early," I yawned, rubbing my eyes and standing up slowly. Sleeping on the couch all night had made me stiff and sore.

"Did you see that there are some clothes in the closets for us?" Kylie asked. Now that she mentioned it, she was in a more ninja-appropriate outfit.

I stumbled into my room and collapsed on my bed. I knew I couldn't fall back asleep, but I gave myself a few minutes to wake up at least. Then I pushed myself up, and checked the closet. Kylie was right; it was full of clothes of all different sorts. There was even a kimono in there.

I picked out some tight, black pants along with a loose blue shirt. I even managed to find some ninja sandals in the back that I traded with my worn sneakers.

When I came out of the room, Kylie had eggs and toast on the table.

I sat down and started munching on my plate of food. "So, which team do you think we'll be on?" I asked

"Well I'm hoping one of us gets Kakashi's team. I mean…duh, that's like THE team to be on. But we both can't be there." She crunched thoughtfully on her toast.

"Yeah. I think I'd want Kakashi or Kurenai's team. Hinata, Kiba and Shino are probably more bearable than Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji." Though I'd probably be on team Asuma just because I didn't want to be.

I rubbed my wrist. For some reason, ever since I'd woken up it'd been aching. I probably just slept on it or something but it really hurt.

We cleared our plates and headed out the door. I was really nervous about this. A ninja who couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and was really going to suck at taijutsu, I would humiliate myself for sure. Kylie could probably do pretty well in taijutsu, she had been the head of the cheerleading team for a while (though it seems a bit hard to believe).

We arrived at Tsuande's office at 8am on the dot and the Jounin told us to go on in. Tsuande was waiting inside along with Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, and Tenten. Naruto, Lee, and both of the team leaders were still missing.

I exchanged a look with Kylie, we hadn't planned on Team Gai to be one of the team options. It made sense now that we were here, they were experienced genine who specialized in their own forms of taijutsu, but it still seemed strange.

Tsunade looked up when we arrived. "Hello girls, we have a few members that are late, so before we begin let's wait for them to show up."

Kylie and I nodded and sat down quietly, very aware of the four staring at us.

A few minutes later a very sleepy Naruto stumbled in, muttering something about ramen. As soon as he caught sight of Sasuke, though, sparks flew between them (and not the romantic kind).

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?" he grumbled, walking over to his team.

"Late, again." Sakura said, the irritation in her voice not quite covered up.

"Gai-sensei too. Him and Lee are almost never late. In fact, they are almost fanatical about time." Tenten said, obviously worried.

"Gai probably challenged Kakashi to another fight," Kylie whispered in my ear.

My lips twitched and I tried not to grin at the mental image.

I noticed Neji watching me, and I blinked back at him. He sent me a glare, then looked away. Again, I blinked. What the hell did I do to piss him off?

I looked at Kylie, who smirked at me. "Still like him?" she whispered.

I muttered back, "This is going to be a long day. You can be on Team Gai."

"I don't wanna!" she pouted quietly. "I want to see if I can make Sasuke go all crazy for me." She sent me a wink and I rolled my eyes.

"Sakura would murder you," I reminded her.

"True." She agreed, though didn't look too deterred.

Just then, a poof of smoke appeared in the middle of the room and Kakashi appeared out of it, perverted book in hand. "Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life."

"Liar!" all three of his squad members yelled.

Tsunade's door suddenly burst open. "KAKASHI!" Gai charged in through the door. "There you are! We didn't finish our match!" Rock Lee came in behind Gai, cheering him on.

"Well, now that we're all here," Tsunade interrupted, all eyes turning to her. "I'll explain why I've called you all here."

I sat back and watched their faces slowly. "These two girls are going to be joining your squads. They do not have chakra, but have volunteered to become ninja to help our village." Like we ever had a choice.

Sakura spoke up. "You mean they can't use their chakra right?"

"No," Tsunade said, turning to her. "Neji can verify this, but they do not have a chakra network."

"How is that possible." She looked at us strangely, and we both shrugged. "Where are they from?"

"We are right here you know," Kylie said tersely. She was obviously getting annoyed that they were talking about us like we weren't in the room. Can't say I blamed her for that.

Sakura blushed. "Sorry." She scampered behind Sasuke. Did I really want to be on that team?

"If they want to tell you where they're from, that's up to them." Tsuande said simply. "Now, Kylie will be in Kakashi's team, Tawny will be in Gai's team." Damn old bat. Putting me with the 'Power of Youth!' fanatic, his deciple, the most arrogant heir of the Hyuga clan, and the weapons freak who was crushing on the most arrogant heir. Then again, Kylie got the Love-struck Sakura, the arrogant heir Sasuke, and the number one knuckleheaded ninja. Maybe there wasn't any good choice.

"Alright!" there was literally fire in Gai's eyes, "Another addition for the power of youth! Let's go!" He grabbed me by my arm and literally dragged me out the door, everyone but Lee (who was following behind him obediently) sweatdropped.

"Have fun," Kylie called behind me. I through a certain finger over my shoulder that would have got me smacked back at home.

We arrived at a training area a little while later, and Gai finally released my poor abused arm.

"Alright then little lady, what do you know so far about taijutsu?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking at me.

"I know what it is, but can't do it to save my life." I told him bluntly. He'd find out soon anyway.

That didn't seem to phase him too much. "Alright then, Neji, Tenten, I know this will likely disappoint you, but I am going to cancel your training for today. Lee, would you be willing to stay and help teach this poor girl some of your awesome techniques?"

There was one of those creepy Gai/Lee moments where a beach background appeared and they both got teary eyed. "Yes Gai-sensei, I would be honored if you would allow me to help you train our newest member!"

I almost jumped at the hand on my shoulder, and I turned to Tenten who was right behind me. "I'm sorry about them, you get use to them after a while. They're really pretty harmless. Think you'll be okay training with just them for today?"

I gave her a smile, my opinion of her raising since she was concerned about little old me. "Yeah, I'm sure I can manage, thanks."

She nodded. "Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow than, and look forward to working with you,"

She walked away, Neji gave me another glare before turning and walking away himself. Jeeze, I hadn't realized what a bastard he was.

The Gai/Lee moment was ending, so I turned back and waited for them to tell me what to do. Gai wiped the tears from his face and took a dramatically deep breath. "Okay, first do 100 laps!" he said brightly.

I hated running. That was why I had never been in any sports I was a terrible runner. "Do not worry Tawny!" Lee said brightly, "I will run with you to keep you company."

"Um, thanks Lee." I said slowly. These two green freaks were going to be the death of me.

100 laps later I was on my back on the ground, begging my lungs to continue working. I found that I was actually slightly more athletic in this world, I had gotten through the first 20 without even breaking a sweat. By 40 I was getting tired, and by 60 I was ready to be done. When 80 rolled around I was pretty sure I would drop dead at any moment. When I finally reached 100, I collapsed with Lee cheering loudly for me making it.

Lee had kept my pace and chatted animatedly the entire time I was running. I really was glad for the company, but when I started getting tired, and he started cheering me on, I thought I was going to strangle him. He kept going on about the power of youth flowing strongly in me and whatnot.

"Not too bad for a rookie." Gai said, standing over me. "Now let's work on your kicks."

"That is a wonderful idea Gai-sensei!" Lee agreed, admiration shining in his eyes.

"Are-_ga sp_-you_-gasp-_freaking-_gasp-_kidding -_gasp-_me?" I said as I panted on the ground. I wished I had thought to bring a water bottle with me this morning. Definitely something I would have to remember for tomorrow.

Lee grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. "Come on Tawny-chan, let us work on your kicks!" I groaned as he pulled me over to a large stump post thing that looked like it had seen a lot of trainees. "Okay start like this," he demonstrated the proper way to kick.

When I tried to follow his example, I fell onto my butt. It involved coordination to be able to adjust the weight of your body on one foot, while using ti to spin and correctly position your second foot to make contact. I was too tired to have any coordination.

"No no no!" he said. "Like this!" he showed me again.

I grumbled, and again, lost my balance as my foot connected with the stump. This time though Lee had expected it, and caught my shoulders to balance me.

He looked thoughtful. "Let us try this! You kick like I showed you, and I will ensure that you do nto fall down."

I nodded and kicked again, Lee keeping hold of my shoulders so that I didn't lose my balance.

"That is it!" he exclaimed! "Now just to do it without my assistance!"

I sighed and began doing the kicks again, slowly since I was still trying to adjust my weight, but managing not to fall on my bum.

"Gai-sensei! She is doing it!" Lee cheered, making me wince.

"Very good Lee! You make a fine teacher." Gai beamed at his student.

I rolled my eyes and continued kicking.

They had me continue that exercise for the next few hours, until it was late the afternoon. My leg was sore from constantly hitting one spot to the stump, but I had managed to fully get the coordination down so that I could quickly adjust my weight onto one foot and balance myself.

I checked my watch. It was around 4pmish, and I was out of energy. I don't know how they did this stuff every day. Lee had taken to doing his own kick training next to mine, and he did even more than I did, yet was still jumping around like a 4 year old on a sugar high.

"Alright, now it's squats." Lee said brightly, and began his. I slowly copied him, Just survive a little longer, I told myself. It'll be over soon.

Lee's did about five squats to every one I did, but I continued under the observant eyes of Gai. I wondered what they expected me to do? I may be a bit better as far as stamina and edurance and maybe even other areas go than I was in my own world, but that didn't mean I would ever match up to the level of anyone on this team.

Over the next several hours, Lee and Gai put me through all the basic training exercises: pushups, pullups, punches, more squats, and even jump rope. They didn't stop putting me through exercises until I sat down and refused to give up. It was already 8pm, and it had gotten dark. I was flattered that they were willing to work so hard to help me, but I was done for the night, and I told Gai as much.

"Alright," he agreed. "But you need to run another 25 laps, and then you can go home."

I groaned, but since now the end was in sight, I pushed myself up, and started running.

I slammed the apartment door shut as I walked in. My legs were sore, my arms were killing me, and every muscle in my body felt like it had been stretched and beaten. And worse? They wanted me back at the training field at dawn tomorrow, which, I learned, was 5 freaking am.

"Bad day?" Kylie asked from the kitchen. I glared at her, she didn't have a single scratch or piece of dirt on her. I stomped toward the bathroom. I really needed a shower.

After a very long, very hot shower, I came out with a towel wrapped around me, grumpy now instead of pissed. An amazing smell was coming from the kitchen, and I sat down at the table, waiting for Kylie to serve her dish. She had always been an amazing cook. In fact, the girl was good at everything now that I thought about it.

Kylie put a plate of chicken and alfredo and poured me a glass of milk. I loved her sometimes. "So what happened?"

"They put me on the Rock Lee plan." I grumbled, taking a big bite out of the chicken alfredo dish. "I don't even want to move."

Kylie nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, I think the gave up on me already. He had Naruto and Sakura trying to teach me stuff, but it always went back to using chakra to do this or that. They couldn't teach me straight up taijutsu."

"I wish they'd give up on me." I mumbled, pushing another huge bite into my mouth. "Gai wants me back there at dawn."

"Ouch. Did Neji or Tenten give you a hard time?"

"No, Gai gave them both the day off training. Tenten said she looked forward to training with me and Neji just glared at me before he left." I sighed, holding my empty plate up in a silent plea.

Kylie took my plate and put another helping of dinner on it, setting it back in front of me. "I love you Ky," I grinned at her.

She sent me a wink. "Then you're gonna be kissing me when I bring out dessert."

I perked up. "Dessert?"

She nodded and walked over to the fridge, pulling out cheesecake and pudding. My eyes widened and I quickly finished up the chicken alfredo, almost inhaling it.

Kylie laughed and got us each a small plate, putting on the dessert and setting mine in front of me. I beamed at her and dug in. it was absolutely delicious, and by the time I finished I had almost forgotten how much the day had sucked. I tucked the lossening towel tighter around me and leaned back, relaxing and cutting myself off another piece of cake.

Kylie went to put some scrolls she had found back in her room when there was a knock on the door, before it abruptly burst open. I was still in my towel at the table.

"Kylie-chan!" Naruto yelled, running in, followed by Sasuke and Sakura. He caught sight of me and stared with wide eyes, frozen.

I blinked at him. "Naruto!" Sakura hit him hard over the head, beat red from embarrassment. "You shouldn't burst in like that!" she turned to me and started apologizing.

"No worries," I said, standing up and making sure my towel was tight. I walked towards my room, and banged on the door of Kylie's as I passed. "Ky! You have some visitors." I called, closing the door to my bedroom when I got in there.

I put on some pajamas that I found in the closet, and stretched out on the bed. I heard voices getting loud in the kitchen, so I reluctantly left the amazing comfort of my bed, and went to find out what the commotion was.

Kylie saw me and waved me in. "So what's going on?" I asked her, noticing Naruto and Sasuke were in a staring contest again. I was tempted to tell them to be careful not to kiss this time, but then they'd wonder how I knew about the first time.

"I don't know. Naruto thinks he knows how we can get chakra." She said,

"Why's the whole team here?"

"No clue." She sighed.

I looked at the clock, it was nearing 10pm. I had 7 hours of sleep if I went to bed right now, but I couldn't do that if they were here.

"You, Tawny, right?" I looked over at Sasuke, who was looking at me with his charcoal black eyes.

"That's me." I confirmed dully.

He stepped closer. "Who are you?"

"You just said my name you dolt. I'm Tawny." Ugh, he was trying for one of those cool, smoldering, I'm-so-smart things.


	3. Chapter 3

After a lot more arguing, Kylie kicked out her team and I went to sleep. I was going to have a long day tomorrow, and people bursting in the door in the middle of the night was not going to help anything.

Despite my exhaustion, sleep was hard to come by. I tossed and turned in bed for over an hour before I finally managed a fitful rest. When my alarm rang just before dawn, I rolled out of bed feeling like a truck hit me. Kylie wasn't awake yet, so I made myself some toast and filled up a canteen of water. I sat on the couch for a while, mentally preparing myself for the day ahead. I was going to need to do something different, because I couldn't survive too many more days like yesterday.

But what could I do? It's true, I was faster, stronger, and had more stamina than I ever had back home, but that wasn't saying very much. I was no comparison to the real ninjas. I had to find some sort of advantage…

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon when Kylie stumbled out of her room with a sleepy hello. It was time for me to head off, so I grabbed the lunch Kylie had made for me the night before.

"Good luck," she yawned, plopping down at the table with a glass of water.

"Thanks, I'll need it," I sighed, going through my mental checklist, and starting out for the training field. For some reason I wasn't dreading the training as much as I was dreading dealing with the arrogant prick who seemed to have developed an instant dislike for me.

I mean really, he didn't even know me, why would he have such a grudge? Grr. I hated idiots like that. I was so going to be a Gaara fan like Kylie from now on. I wonder if I'll get to meet Gaara? Will he be semi-stable if and when I do? I don't want him going all you-looked-at-me-the-wrong-way-now-I-have-to-kill-you on me.

I mentally debated all the ups and downs of being a Gaara fan all the way to the training field. Lee was already working on kicks at one of the posts, Neji was sitting crosslegged under a tree with his eyes closed, and Tenten was sitting on a branch of the tree Neji was sitting under swinging a kunai on her finger.

"You're late." Neji said bluntly, not even opening his eyes to greet me.

I sent him the middle finger and glanced over at Lee, who'd stopped his exercising.

"Tawny-chan! It is so good to see you! Have you been practicing those drills Gai-sensei and I taught you?" He asked, with big curious eyes.

Practicing? I barely had time to sleep much less practice anything. Luckily I didn't have to answer since Gai appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Alright my youthful students! We have a mission!" He declared.

Lee cheered loudly, and Tenten jumped down from her spot on the tree to stand by Neji. I stood awkwardly off to the side trying to decide if this was good or bad for me. On one hand, I wouldn't have to do all that painful training (my body still wasn't very happy with me moving around), but on the other hand, I would probably screw things up on the mission and humiliate myself. Last thing I needed was more reasons for Neji to hate me.

"What are we going to be doing?" Tenten asked, still spinning her kunai absently.

"We are going to be escorting a trader back to his village in the Land of Mist." He said proudly. "We will leave at noon, so prepare your things and meet back here at twelve sharp!"

Lee rushed off so quickly he left smoke behind him, eager no doubt to start the mission. Neji gave an uninterested "Hn" and turned back to the village as well. I stayed behind to talk to Gai.

"Umm…Am I going too? Since I'm new and inexperienced, I'd probably just weigh you guys down." I said nervously.

"Nonsense!" Gai proclaimed, flashing his teeth. "The power of youth runs strong in you! And this is another way for you to gain the experience that you lack. Besides that, this is only a C-ranked mission, so it's unlikely that we will run into any real trouble."

I wanted to snort. Tazuna's mission was so similar it was almost eerie, and that had turned out to be extremely dangerous. I didn't mention any of that though, and accepted Gai's decision with a reluctant nod.

"Excellent! Go gather your things then! And meet back here at noon!" and with that, he disappeared again.

I sighed and turned back to the village. I blinked when I noticed Tenten still waiting by the tree. "Hey. Aren't you going to get your stuff ready?"

"It doesn't really take that long. I thought that since you're not a very experienced ninja yet, you might want some help deciding what to pack for this sort of thing." She offered, pushing off from the tree as we started back to Konoha together.

"That would be great!" I told her with a mental sigh of relief. One less thing to worry about, since I'd never done this before. She really was turning out to be the most helpful person I'd met here so far.

"So where are you living?" She asked, trying to make small talk.

"In some apartments with Kylie, over on the edge of the village." I said, nodding in the general direction.

There was a small moment of hesitation before she asked "Do you mind if I ask where you two are from?"

I gave a small laugh. She must have thought we were tramatized by whatever happened before this or something. "It's somewhere really far away." I told her with a small smile.

Kids ran around the streets and people milled around as we made our way through the village chit chatting. It was nice, feeling like I had a friend here besides Kylie.

We were about halfway back when I heard, "Tawny! Slow down damnit!"

I looked back and saw Kylie running to catch up behind us, her team strolling along not too far behind. "Hey, shouldn't you be training?"she asked, slightly out of breath.

"We're going on a mission." Tenten said, "It's one that will take a few days, so I'm going with Tawny to help her pack some things."

Kylie looked surprised. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Good luck! What kind of mission is it?"

"A C-ranked escorting mission to somewhere in the land of mist." I told her, giving her a meaningful look.

To her credit, she tried to cover her snort of laugher as a cough, and it was nearly believable, except by me.

"Kylie-chan, are you alright?" Naruto asked as he and the others caught up, patting her back like he though she was choking.

"Yeah just swallowed wrong," She said. "If you guys want I can make you two some lunch while you're packing." She offered me and Tenten

"That'd be very nice of you." Tenten said with a smile.

"Great! Let's go!" Kylie said.

"Would you mind if we tagged along Kylie?" Sakura asked.

Kylie looked at me, and I shrugged. "Come on over." I said. Naruto gave a loud whoop and jumped in the air.

Kylie, Tenten, and Sakura took up the lead, chatting animatedly with Naruto trying, and failing, to get into the conversation. I let myself fall to the back of the group, walking along quietly observing the rest of the village.

"You seem strange." I jumped slightly, having totally forgotten about Sasuke.

"How nice of you to notice." I remarked dryly. My crush Sasuke had deteriorated too. I could blame Neji for that. The I'm-too-cool attitude wasn't nearly as impressive when you had to deal with the brunt of the arrogance as well.

"Your wrist is hurting." He observed. I glanced down, I'd been rubbing my sore wrist without thinking about it.

"My everything is hurting." I muttered. "Rock Lee and Gai had me doing kicks and laps for 12 friggin hours yesterday."

"You probably pinched a nerve in your arm." He said. "Neji could probably fix it with his Byakugan."

"I wouldn't ask that jerk for a favor unless I was halfway dead." I told him bluntly. Why was the Uchiha heir even talking to me? He was usually too good for small talk.

Without warning, he grabbed my arm, gripping it hard enough that I couldn't yank it away. "Hey!" I yelped, trying in vain to tug it away.

"Sasuke! What are you doing?" Kylie demanded, turning around and putting her hands on her hips. "Let her go!" Tenten and Sakura had also stopped to stare at us, with Naruto looking bewildered as ever.

With one hand still gripping my arm right below my elbow, he used his free hand to press his thumb rapidly into the pressure points of my arm, before releasing me completely. "Better?" he asked.

I blinked at him, looking at him like he was insane, before focusing on my arm and realizing that my wrist didn't hurt anymore. "yes actually. Thanks." I said, slightly shocked that he would do something nice.

Kylie gave him the evil eye before saying, "come on, we're home."

I hadn't noticed us get to the apartment, but she was right, and we made our way up the stairs, with me keeping Sakura between Sasuke and I to discourage any more helpful behavior.

Tenten and I retreated to my room while Kylie made all of us some lunch. "So where's all your stuff?" she asked

"This is it." I sighed, making a sweeping motion of my arm. All I really had was the clothes in the closet that had been here when we arrived.

Tenten scanned the clothes, picking out some and tossing them on the bed. "You guys really didn't bring much." She commented

"Technically we didn't bring anything. Naruto and a couple others found us outside the village. We're still not exactly sure how we got here." I commented, packing the clothes into a backpack that was stuffed in the back of the closet.

"Really? That must be difficult. We'll stop at my house after this, and I'll give you some weapons." Tenten said, looking through my closet one more time to see if there was anything she missed.

"Sounds good, thanks." We wandered back out of my room. Sasuke was leaning against a wall, Sakura was trying to help Kylie in the kitchen, and Naruto was trying to convince Sakura to go out with him. From the bump on his head, I would say it's not going well.

"got everything ready?" Kylie asked from the kitchen as we entered the livingroom. I flopped down on the couch, while Tenten sat on the chair politely.

"Yep. Not like there was much to pack." I laughed.

"Actually, I have a couple things you might want to take in my room." She said vaguely, giving me a look that I recognized. "Sakura, will you make sure this doesn't burn?"

"Of course! I'm an excellent cook." She threw a sly look over to Sasuke, to see if he was paying any attention, which he wasn't. The Uchiha was brooding in the corner like usual.

Kylie and I exchanged an eyeroll, then went back to her room, where she closed the door quietly.

"This is a bad idea." She turned to face me with a grim expression, her dark hair bouncing along as she walked over to her closet.

"You think so?" I asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Tazuna was just like this." She said, biting her lip. "What if you get attacked?"

"Then I run like hell and hide behind Tenten or Lee." I told her brightly. I layed back on her bed, the covers were warm from the sun and it made me feel like a nap. I realized I probably wasn't going to sleep in a bed for a while since we'd be traveling. I was going to need a sleeping bag or something.

"You'd probably be safest with Neji." She sighed.

"Neji hates me. He'd probably just let me get killed. I don't know why since I didn't do anything to him." I sulked. "By the way, I have decided to be a Gaara fan from now on…Neji and Sasuke are too arrogant."

"Gaara is mine. Besides," Kylie added with a sneaky grin. "I think Sasuke likes you."

I snorted. "He is acting pretty weird."

"No kidding. You know, I thought it'd be fun to be on Kakashi's team, but all they do is argue. Nothing ever gets done." She sighed. She played absently with the hairband around her wrist, staring out the window.

"Are you surprised?" I laughed. I mean, that's all they ever did.

"I guess not. I just thought there'd be more epic moments like in the show." She said wistfully.

"Stick around long enough and I'm sure you'll see some. We've only been here two days." I grinned.

"True." Ky rummaged through the closet before coming out with a couple small scrolls. "Sakura lent these to me. They're scrolls on Taijutsu techniques, warm ups, exercises, ect. You'll probably get some good use out of them." She tossed them over in my direction.

I sat up and caught them, tucking tehm away into my backpack. "Okay thanks. We better get back before Sakura burns all the food."

"Oh! Forgot about that." Kylie was out of the room in a heartbeat, I laughed and followed slowly after.

After about 15 minutes, lunch was served. Kylie had made Teriyaki chicken and rice, along with some little sandwiches.

"It's delicious." Tenten said, her buns bobbing as she munched her food. I nodded in agreement, even Sasuke made a sound of approval.

"How did you learn to cook like this Kylie-chan?" Naruto asked in awe.

"It's a long story." She laughed. Kylie's parents were divorced, and she lived with her Dad most of the time. He was always away on business trips, so she learned to live by herself really well. Cooking, cleaning, even paying bills was normal for her now. That was one of the reasons she made such a good roommate.

"Can you cook like this Tawny?" Sakura asked me.

Kylie almost choked on her food, after a coughing fit to clear her throat she burst into giggles. I grinned too. "Nope, I can cook eggs and I can make sandwiches, and that's where my talent in the kitchen ends."

"If I wasn't here the poor girl would starve." Kylie winked, elbowing me playfully.

I put a hand over my heart. "it's true, I don't know what I'd do without her." I said dramatically. Again, we both burst into giggles.

"How long have you been friends?" Naruto asked.

"Forever." Kylie said. I just nodded in agreement.

After lunch was finished, Kylie packed the leftovers into boxes for Tenten and I to take along on our mission.

"thanks darling," I told Kylie with a quick hug, tucking the food away into my bag.

"That's what I'm here for." She grinned. "Okay, I do believe it is time to evacuate the apartment."

Team Kakashi was going back to their training spot, and Tenten and I were heading back to her place, so we said our goodbyes and I gave Kylie one last hug.

"You be safe now missy!" she said with a grin. "Take care of her Tenten."

"I will." Tenten assured Ky. "And thank you for the lunch."

"No problem." She beamed.

We were just about to turn and leave when Sasuke caught my arm.

"Tawny, when you get back from your mission, would you grab some dinner with me?" he asked, his black eyes looking off to the side. Aww he was shy.

Kylie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, and Naruto and Sakura's jaws hit the ground. "Um. Sure, okay." I said, at a loss for words. THE Sasuke Uchiha just asked me, Tawny, on a date! Okay…so maybe I still had a bit of a crush on the guy. I mean, he did have that whole cool/smoldering thing going on.

He nodded, and turned around, walking away. Everyone else was frozen. I glanced at Kylie. _Wow _ she mouthed. I nodded. Wow indeed.

"Well," Tenten said, clearing her throat. "Let's get going before Ino finds out."

I nodded and hurried away with Tenten, Sakura and Naruto still frozen in the middle of the road with their mouths hanging open. When we were far enough away, I was pretty sure I heard Sakura scream.

Tenten had a small wooden hut just outside the village. It was neat and organized, and the walls were full of a variety of weaponry. If not for the pointy objects, it would have been a very cozy home.

"Alright, so I'm guessing you don't have a lot of weapons training?" she asked, putting the lunch Kylie had packed on the kitchen table.

"None at all." I cringed. I sat down on the couch, admiring her collections.

"That's okay, how about you take some basic shuriken and kunai with you, and I"ll pack a few types of swords, and I'll give you some lessons how to use them on the way." God this girl was a lifesavor.

"That would be great." I told her grinning.

"Alright, I'm going to get my bag ready, and I have some extra sleeping gear too you can have." She said, into a hallway and turning into a room. I stayed in the livingroom, still admiring all her fancy swords and daggers.

She came out a few minutes later with her bag packed, and a smaller pouch that she tossed to me. I opened it gingerly, and saw about a dozen kunai, and a dozen shuriken inside.

"Okay, let's start with where you put them so they're in easy reach." She said.

We spent the next half hour going over how to position my shuriken and kunai, and where to put them on my body for the easiest access. By the time we were done, we had 30 minutes to get back to the training ground to meet up with the others.

"Alright, think you got it down?" she asked.

I went over it in my head one more time before nodding. "Yep, I think I have it."

"Great! Let's go meet up with the boys then." She shouldered her pack and we headed back to the training ground. Lee was already there doing jumping jacks when we arrived.

"Hello Tenten and Tawny! Are you two ready for this exciting mission!" he asked us enthusiastically.

"Hey Lee. Yeah, we're ready to go." Tenten said, jumping to her usual spot in her usual tree. I leaned against the tree, checking my watch. We still had 20 minutes before we officially needed to be here.

I closed my eyes and used the extra time to mentally prepare myself. After a few minutes I heard Tenten greet Neji, but I didn't open my eyes. He was the one person sure to ruin my calm.

I focused on taking deep breaths. In and out, in and out. I had finally calmed myself down enough to open my eyes when Gai showed up with the trader.

"Hello my youthful students! This is Leno, he is the man we are escorting on this misson." Gai proclaimed loudly. Neji gave a "Hn" and Lee rushed over to meet our charge.

Leno was a heavy set guy, with a round face and a dark rash of hair under his straw hat. He had a huge backpack that had random things pointing out of it, and he trudged along slowly behind Gai. From the looks of it, we wouldn't be getting to the land of mist anytime this century.

Tenten hopped down from her post and stood next to me. "Gai-sensei, are we leaving now?"

"Yes my youthful Tenten! Let us be off!" He charged off in the lead, with Lee half a step behind him.

This was going to be a looong mission.


	4. Chapter 4

When watching the show safely from the comfort of my own home, these missions seemed to go by in a flash. In actuality, they took for freaking ever. I spent the first hour trying to analyze why Sasuke had asked me out, and the hour after that going through possible date scenarios. As the scenarios changed, my imagination got a little more creative and a couple of them ended with a kiss (I know, not likely, but a girl could hope right?).

After I had fully exhausted my Sasuke date thoughts, I was left with nothing to do but walk and walk and walk. We had a three day walk to the Land of Mist, and that was if we walked from sun up to sun down without any breaks. Leno was keeping up surprisingly well for his size, he trudged along a few steps behind Gai and Lee. Neji and Tenten followed side by side behind Leno, and I was slowly taking up the rear.

The forest senary was beautiful, and for an hour or so I was kept entertained by watching the birds and the trees and even the clouds, but even that bored the crap out of me after not too long. This was one of those times I wanted one of those Gameboys or something.

Very few words were said as we walked through the dense trees along the path. Gai would occasionally point something out to Lee as we walked, or give us some random information, but beyond that, our party was silent. It was boring and frustrating.

As the sun slowly set, Gai announced we would make camp slightly off the beaten path in a cave next to a small lake. Everyone was assigned tasks, and I went to find some wood for a fire.

I listened for any unusual noises or indications that we might be in danger, or that someone was following us (they were always so easy to spot in the show), but when nothing jumped out at me, I decided this probably was just a normal, C-ranked mission.

"Hey, everything alright?" I jumped at Tenten's voice behind me.

"Yeah, everything's good. I just never imagined missions to be so dull." I admitted, grabbing a few more sticks off the ground, adding to my growing pile.

She laughed goodnaturedly. "It can be tough for a while. You just have to find something to keep you focused."

I glanced up at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well find something to think about that keeps you occupied, but also doesn't take up so much of your attention that you don't notice if something is unusual." She explained.

"What do you think of?" I asked curiously.

She got a little red, turning around quickly under the pretense of grabbing a few large sticks herself. "I think of my training." She said a little too quickly. "What weapons I can use for what, what I still need to practice in. Things like that."

I knew she was lying, but I didn't call her on it. I imagined it was her crush on Neji that she focused on, but she did give me some good ideas. Tomorrow I would put the extra time into creating a plan of training for myself. I mean, I had to get good in something if I wanted to survive here.

We talked for a while until we had enough wood to take back to camp, and I was just adding a few pieces of wood to the fire when Tenten asked the one thing that should not have been brought up in front of my new team. "So, are you excited for your date with Sasuke?"

I wanted to smack her. Lee immediately jumped up from his spot at the lake (he was trying to catch fish for us to eat, though I was still planning on snacking on the leftovers Kylie had given me) and in an instant was half a foot in front of me.

"You are dating Sasuke Uchiha?" he demanded loudly in my face. Even Neji turned around and looked surprised.

I gently pushed Lee back a couple of inches. "Lee, personal space please. And I'm not dating him, I'm just going to have a dinner with him when we get back."

Lee inched forward again. "How did you do it? My darling Sakura has been trying for ages to get his attention, yet even she has failed. How have you managed to do it when she could not?" I flinched and looked away, feeling slightly offended as my self esteem took a blow. I mean, perhaps I was no match for Sakura, but that was a bit harsh.

Tenten smacked Lee over the head. "Ow! Tenten, what was that for?" He whined with tears in his eyes.

"For being rude to Tawny!" she snapped. Apparently Neji lost interest now in the conversation for he looked away and continued his own attempt at fishing. From the looks of it, he had done better than Lee though. Leno was sitting against a tree, watching us all boredly.

By the time the fire was built and the fish were frying, Gai came back from his scouting of the camp. Lee immediately told him about my date with Sasuke and he beamed at me, saying something about how the power of youth was stronger when paired. I sunk back into my dark corner and tried to hide for the rest of the night, hugely embarrassed.

I didn't sleep well that night. It could have been the hard ground that made me uncomfortable, but I didn't think so. Ever since I had arrived here I couldn't get a good night sleep for my life.

After about an hour of attempting to sleep, I gave up and slipped out of my sleeping bag. Everyone else was sound asleep, so I slowly and quietly made my way to the lake. I let myself fall onto the soft grass, and I watched the little ripples of the water calm me. The moon was only half full, but it shined down on the lake, making a beautiful reflection in the darkness. Crickets chirped and frogs croaked in the distance. I fell onto my back in the grass and closed my eyes. It was magical.

"You should be sleeping." And just like that, the magic was gone.

I opened my eyes and half glared at Neji. "So should you." I shot back.

He shrugged and sat down beside me. I gave him a suspicious eye and pushed myself up to a sitting position. "Perhaps." Was all he said.

I looked back over the lake. It was like a scene in a fairytale, calming and mystical. I glanced at Neji out of the corner of my eye. His eyes looked far away, like he was deep in thought. For the first time I didn't see the arrogance in his face. He looked almost…sad.

"You'll never be a full ninja you know." He said suddenly. He didn't say it spitefully, but like it was a simple fact. "Without a chakra network, you won't even be able to pass mediocre taijutsu."

I pulled my knees to my chest. "I don't care about your fate crap. Just shut up." I muttered. I knew he was right, but still…

"is that the best you have?" he snorted. His arrogance back.

I stood up, looking down at him. I almost pitied him. "I feel sorry for you Neji." I told him softly. "If you need to tell everyone else they're worthless, just so you can feel strong, well, that isn't a real ninja either."

His head shot up, white eyes glaring hatefully at me. "You have no idea what I've been through." He snarled. Actually I did, but I wasn't about to tell him that.

I simply shrugged. "You're right. And I don't care. You could be an orphan with no family and friends in the world, and the fact that you have to drag people down to make yourself feel superior still means you will never be a great ninja." I looked down at him indifferently.

"I don't know why you hate me." I continued, "and I don't really care because I realized you have no reason to. If you choose to be like this to someone who has never even crossed your path before, well that's your problem, it isn't mine and I'm not going to take anything you say to heart, because in the end, it's just poor pitiful Neji, trying to make himself feel strong."

If looks could kill, he'd probably be digging a hole to throw my corpse into. I knew I'd been a little harsh, but I didn't regret it. If he wanted to act like an arrogant ass, then I wasn't going to let it bother me anymore.

I turned around and walked back to my sleeping bag, letting the Hyuuga brood over what I'd said. This time, I fell asleep within minutes.

The next morning we were packed up and moving at dawn. Neji didn't so much as glance at me the entire morning, which I couldn't decide if that was an improvement to the glares or not. For the first hour or so of walking I was groggy and slow. I tried to take Tenten's advice and focus on my training plan, but my thoughts kept drifting off, and eventually I just let them go wherever they wanted.

I thought about Kylie back in Konoha, and I wondered if she was getting any better at taijutsu or if she was just cooking lunch for the tem all the time. I also thought about how at home we use to get together and laugh and say how much we wished we could be here, in the show, and how much it really varied from what I thought it was.

After a while my thoughts drifted back to Neji. I watched his back as he walked by Tenten silently, the group in the same order as it had been yesterday with me in the back. The only difference was the Gai had gone to scout ahead, so it was just the three ninjas, me, and Leno. I could understand why Neji was the way he was, I could see why he was so bitter. I had thought that the chunin exams had knocked some of his narcissistic ways out of him, but apparently I had been mistaken.

I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye, and my head snapped in that direction, but there was nothing there. It was probably about noon, and we'd been walking for a few hours already, so I figured I'd just imagined it, but I focused more of my attention to the surroundings.

An hour later, I saw another flash at the very edge of my vision. I glanced up at the team, but none of them seem to have noticed anything. Then again, perhaps they had and they just were trying not to give their suspicions away. I walked a little faster, so I was only a couple feet behind Neji and Tenten. If something went wrong, I didn't want to be far from the team.

I tapped on Tenten's shoulder, and she slowed down, letting Neji get ahead of her so she could walk by me. "What's up?" she asked.

"Nothing just getting kind of bored again." I lied, I looked at her, and glanced over her shoulder again, then looked back at her, hoping she'd get the message.

Her eyes moved to the side, where there was another quick flash. She looked back at me and gave a nearly indiscernible nod. "Did you try the advice I gave you yesterday?" she asked me brightly, keeping the charade.

"Yeah, but I can't focus on one thing." I shrugged, wondering what I should do now that I alerted her to the problem.

Tenten bit her lip, I saw her focusing on the edge of the woods though. "Hey Lee! Come back here for a sec, we need your advice." Neji glanced back at us and caught my eye. Again, I looked at him, looked at the forest, then looked back at him. He glanced towards the trees, then looked back in front of him. I hoped he got the message too.

"What is it Tenten?" Lee asked brightly as he got to us in the back.

"How do you keep yourself occupied while we are on these types of missions?" I noticed her hand move ever so slightly and Lee caught her eye. She moved her head slightly, and Lee got the message immediately.

"I think about beating my greatest rivals!" he exclaimed. "And I come up with new ways to train myself so that I can become a splendid ninja!"

Tenten laughed. "Alright, thanks." She said.

Lee moved back up to the head of the group, his body language only slightly different. He was on the alert now. Tenten stayed in the back of the group with me, which was a bit of a relief and I noticed Neji moved up closer to Leno. They were getting ready to fight.

"Don't panic." Tenten said quietly. "Just say behind me while we handle this."

I nodded wordlessly.

As if a signal had been given, three ninjas shot out of the forest. Neji jumped in front of Leno, and Tenten immediately had her weapons out. Lee charged at the nearest ninja to him, knocking him into a tree. But the ninja bounced back up and attacked Lee with incredible speed. The second ninja was trying to get Neji, but he was holding his own pretty well. He had his byakugan activated and was matching the ninja strike for strike.

Tenten threw a few shuriken at her opponent, but with speed that matched Lee's, he dodged them and was instantly in front of her, dealing a painful kick that sent her flying into a tree where she slumped down. The ninja turned his sights to me.

Ooooh shit. I stood wide-eyed, unsure of what to do as he charged at me. At the last second I closed my eyes and waited for impact. Instead I heard a painful "Hmph" and my eyes snapped open.

Neji was standing in front of me, his hand glowing blue and in the attackers chest. Blood slowly came out of the unknown ninja's mouth, and Neji flung him off to the side. Glancing around I saw that his previous opponent had ended up the same way not far off. Lee was still fighting his, but with a final fierce kick attack, the ninja fighting him went flying into a tree, and didn't get back up.

Neji powered down his Byakugan and glanced at me. "You okay?" he asked simply.

I nodded wordlessly. That was a lot scarier than I thought it was going to be. For a moment I actually thought I was going to get killed. My palms sweated, and my hands were in balls so tight that they hurt, and I slowly had to focus on relaxing them. Lee was over at Tenten, shaking her awake.

Neji walked back over to check on Leno, and as Lee was helping Tenten to her feet, Gai showed back up.

He took one look at the scene surrounding him and his face got serious. "What happened here?"

"We were attacked Gai-sensei." Lee said. Duh. That much should have been pretty damn obvious.

Lee and Tenten explained what had happened to Gai, while Neji stood silently off to the side. I was still in shock, my heart was racing, and I was trying not to shake. Was this how Naruto felt when he was first attacked? I could see why he was so freaked out.

"I see. So you were surprised by the attack?" Gai asked his students.

"Not really. Tawny pointed them out to me, and I gave the signal to Neji and Lee." Tenten explained.

That turned the attention to useless me, who was still on the edge of hyperventilating. "Splendid job Tawny!" Gai exclaimed, giving me a painfully hard pat on the back. "I knew having another member of our team would be beneficial!" he beamed. I simply blinked at him. "Let's get moving, we still have many hours to go before dark."

I already hated this mission….

Author's note

Thanks for those of you who are reading, I really appreciate your interest! I would love to hear some feedback from anyone who is willing, so please review and give me your opinions!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note

Thanks so much for sticking with me you guys! I really appreciate those of you who've reviewed, and I hope more of you will continue to do so as the story progresses!

We reached the small nameless village with no more problems two days after the attack. Team Gai had taken the whole thing very well and even Leno had calmed down after a few hours, but for the rest of our trip to the village I was jumpy and on red alert at all times. I wondered what Kylie would say to me when she heard about my reaction, if I were her I would have laughed, but it was scary.

Between watching and listening for every movement and sound in the forest for the rest of the trip and berating myself for being such a coward, I didn't find myself bored anymore. I had plenty to worry about, plenty to think about. By the time we arrived in the village, I'd decided Neji was right, and that I truly was a hopeless ninja. When we returned to the Village in the Leaves, I'd go to Tsunade and ask her if I could help in a shop or something.

"Tawny," I glanced at Tenten, who'd been trying unsuccessfully to cheer me up on our journey, "Have you ever been in the Land of Mist before?"

I shook my head, ridiculously relieved to be in the village now. It wasn't a very big village, half a dozen small shops in a little row and small houses surrounding them. Just as the name implied, there was a heavy mist that had followed us for the last day and a half walking, and here it was even thicker, making it difficult to see anything at a distance. People walking by us threw us nervous glances, quickening their paces to hurry away. My guess was they didn't run across many ninja, and they ones they had likely weren't very nice.

Leno led us to his house on the outskirts of the village. His wife was waiting for us there, embracing her husband and ushering us in graciously. She was really pretty, with long dark green hair and a kind smile. He introduced her as Maiya.

"You all must be famished from your trip, I'll go make some dinner," she offered, turning to the kitchen while the rest of us sat at the table.

"Thank you, that is very kind of you," Gai told her, giving her his signature shiny smile and thumbs up. Then he turned to Leno and his face got serious."But now that we're here, why don't you tell us the real reason you wanted ninjas for your trip."

Leno looked away in guilt. I got flashbacks from Tazuna's mission, and from the looks of his town, he probably was in a similar situation.

"There is a castle a few miles from here, and 6 months ago the lord of it died, leaving his son, Yomi, to take over his territory. The lord had been a kind man, generous and honest, doing his best to help the villages surrounding his home as best he could. His son is different though, for the last few months he has been coming to the village every couple weeks and demanding girls from our village as payment." The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. I got a bad feeling in my stomach as he continued his story. "He claimed that they were just to be used as servants in his castle, and that he would send them home with money for their services. But none of them returned."

"You haven't heard from any of them?" Neji asked, his gaze intently on our client.

"There was one. She escaped the lord and made it back to the village, but she was wounded. She said that the girls were being sacrificed." Leno stopped there. I glanced down at his hands, he was clutching the end of the table so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He took a deep shaky breath and continued. "She was injured so badly we weren't able to save her."

"Why hasn't your village stood up to this lord, told him no?" Tenten asked shocked.

"He has ninja, about a dozen of them. If we don't give him the girls, he sends his ninjas to take them, and kills everybody else in the home." His eyes were filled with pain, and I felt sorry for the guy, watching his village suffer like that.

Gai spoke up, "This is much more than a Genin mission. Why didn't you tell this to Tsunade when you made your request?"

He looked at the table guiltily. "We are a poor village. It was all we could do to get the money for a C ranked mission."

I thought of something suddenly. "Why did you go all the way to the leaf village? I mean, Land of Mist has ninjas too, why not ask them?" I asked curiously

"she has a point." Neji agreed. "Why us?"

"There is some connection with the new lord and the Mizukage. When we went to him for help, he flat out refused, saying he saw nothing wrong." Ouch. There's politics for you. "I beg you to help us. We are desperate."

We all looked to Gai, since he was the one who would make that call. He thought about it hard, then bolted up and gave a thumbs up to Leno, "We'll do it!" he announced loudly.

Tenten's head hit the table, and Neji sighed. Even I had to agree it was a bad idea. Counting me (and that was a longshot) there were 5 ninjas in the group, 1 was a jounin, 3 were Genin, and there was me. Put that against a dozen guards, and it probably wouldn't end well, especially if the guards were anywhere near as strong as the three who had attacked us before.

Leno thanked us profusely, though, and despite my worry I was glad we would be helping these people. After dinner, Leno said there were 3 guest rooms available, Gai would have one and we would split up the other two.

Tenten walked over to me. "Want to head to our room?"

I nodded but Gai stopped us. "Wait just a minute! You two are not sharing a room." He told us.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because, with the strategy I have developed, your rooming arrangements are much better suited if Lee shares a room with Tenten and Neji shares one with Tawny." He said as though it were the most clever plan in the world.

"I am NOT sleeping in the same room as Lee!" Tenten screamed.

There was a scuffle between Tenten, Lee, and Gai, and by the end of it, both Lee and Gai had large bumps on their heads, but Gai didn't relent. Tenten stormed off to her room furiously, and I sulked to mine. It was just my luck that I was with the guy who hated my guts.

There were already two floor beds prepared, so I choose the one closest to the window and set my bag down next to it, falling back on the bed and staring at the dark ceiling. Night had long since come and shadows danced across the walls. Neji came in a few minutes later, silently throwing his bag next to the remaining bed and getting into it.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the peace. We were going to start planning our attack on the castle tomorrow, and it was sure to be a long day. Tenten had told me she was also going to start teaching me how to use some of the different weapons if we had time. Would I be able to get through this? Would I freeze up again as soon as an opponent faced me?

"What are you thinking about?" I nearly jumped at Neji's voice, my eyes snapping open. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring at me intently.

I sighed, my eyes drifting back to the ceiling. "Would you hold it against me if I told you I was scared?"

"Probably." He said bluntly.

"Then nothing." I turned to face the wall, my back toward the Hyuga. I didn't want to argue with him, I was just in too much of a nonchalant mood.

Before I knew it, sleep overtook me and I was surrounded by the darkness…

Gai was banging on our door at dawn, bursting in a few moments later as I shot up from startlement.

"Wake up my youthful students! We have much to do today, and wasting it on sleep wastes your potiential!" he beamed.

I looked at him for a moment, not really processing his level of insanity. Then slowly and calmly I grabbed my backpack, took out the heaviest thing in it (which happened to be an empty lunch box), and chucked it straight at his head. He was so busy rambling about youth he didn't have time to dodge it (sad for a jounin), and it knocked him right in the forehead. He stumbled out the door, and Neji kicked it shut.

"That was rude." He commented. Unlike me, Neji looked just as put together as always. His hair was still perfect, he didn't have bags under his eyes, and he even looked like he was fully awake.

I glared him. My hair was a mess, my eyes were tired and sore, and if I managed to make it to lunch without passing out it would be a miracle. I stumbled to my feet and out the door, Gai was sitting against the wall with anime tears rushing down his face, sporting a nice sized goose egg on his head. I ignored him and continued to the kitchen.

Tenten and Lee were both already awake. Lee looked just as happy and hyper as Gai, but Tenten at least still looked like she hadn't fully woken up yet. She offered me a piece of toast, and I took it gratefully, sitting down next to her.

Neji walked in a few moments later and silently took his seat at the table, followed by a way to hyper Gai. I wasn't sure what he took to get the way he was, but in my world I bet it was illegal.

"Alright my students! Who has a plan of attack for this monstrous lord?" Gai asked enthusiastically.

"Sensei, can we at least finish breakfast first?" Tenten asked, a slight whine in her voice. I would have added my vote in, but I didn't feel I was useful enough to get a say.

"We can brainstorm WHILE eating my youthful Tenten!" Gai beamed.

"Oh I know Gai-sensei!" Lee called, jumping up and down with his hand in the air.

"yes Lee?" Gai called, obvious pride in his voice for his prize pupil.

"We should go in their and cut them down one by one until all the girls are safe and the land is free!" he proclaimed determinedly.

"We wouldn't even make it passed the front gate." Neji scoffed. "They have a dozen ninja, we have 5, and just barely." He glanced at me and I sunk in my seat.

"Unfortunately I have to agree with Neji on this Lee, a direct assault isn't likely to prove useful for us on this occasion." Gai said.

"Understood Gai-sensei!" Lee really was obsessed with his mentor...

"What about bait?" Tenten asked. All eyes turned to her. "We send someone in their as bait, find out exactly what's going on, then sneak have them let us in the castle so we can fight from the inside out. Not only that, but we need to figure out what they're sacrificing all of those girls for."

"That is a clever plan Tenten, but the bait would have to be a girl, since that is who they are using as sacrifices, and it's likely that the lord has at least some knowledge of the Konoha ninja. It isn't hard to get lists of ninja from each village, and with so many warriors at his disposal he likely does. If we sent you in there, and he found out you were a spy, you would be dead." Gai told us solemnly.

"There is someone he wouldn't know about…" Neji said, his eyes focusing on me. My eyebrows shot up and I wondered if some of Lee and Gai's crazy had rubbed off on him.

"That could work, but since Tawny has not had much time to train, she would be put in enormous risk." Gai said, shaking his head. I gave a mental sigh of relief. I was not interested in being sacrificed to some deity for a crazy lord.

They went on to discuss other strategies, but after three hours the only one that had any possibility of succeeding involved me dressing up like a servant and marching into enemy territory.

"They would never suspect her!" Lee argued feverishly, "She would be perfect!"

"She hasn't been trained yet though! We don't' know the terrain inside the castle, what if we couldn't get to her before the sacrifice?" Tenten snapped back, she was trying to keep me safe and convince the others to let her go, but it wasn't working well. "If I go, I can get a signal back to you guys when to attack. Tawny wouldn't be able to do that."

"You would be recognized though Tenten and they would kill you! How can you get a signal to us while you are dead?" Lee inisisted.

"Tawny, would you be willing to be bait?" I glanced up at Neji, who was looking at me indifferently. I hadn't added my two cents into this, because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted. I mean, I wanted to be helpful, but this was pretty damn likely to kill me.

I gave a slow nod. "Can't promise I'll be able to pull it off though."

Gai nodded. "Then it's settled. When they come into the village for the next girl, we will give them Tawny. She will then infiltrate their castle, find out their evil plot, and inform us so we can decide how to best handle the situation."

Oh the joy. "We'll have to put your weapons training off again then Tawny." Tenten said reluctantly. "You won't be able to sneak by with anything sharp."

I nodded. I didn't particularly want to train today anyway.

Leno lumbered in, "Is there anything I can do to help you guys?" he asked

"We have decided to use Tawny as bait and send her as the next girl to the castle. When will they be arriving next?" Gai asked.

"Two days I believe." He said, glancing at me. I could see the doubt in his eyes, and I couldn't blame him for that. Even I didn't expect this to actually work. It really was just my luck that I'd die on my very first mission.

"Well then, we better get her ready! There is no time to waste!" Gai said, jumping to his feet. "You won't be able to use weapons, but we can work on your taijutsu until the time is here!"

Gai marched outside with Lee close behind him, Tenten rolled her eyes but followed. I hesitated at the table. I didn't want to do this, but there was no other choice. Somebody had to find out what was going on in t he castle.

Ideally the best bet would have been Neji using his Byakugan to spy into the walls but the guards patrolled miles around the castle at all times of the day and night. He wouldn't be able to get close enough to see what he needed to.

"We'll save you, you know." I jumped, not realizing Neji had lagged behind with me. "You're not going to be sacrificed."

I sighed. "Neji, there are going to be a dozen very strong ninjas between you guys and me, a ritual sacrifice to something that probably isn't pretty, and I don't have chakra, suck at taijutsu, and won't have any weapons on me. This isn't going to end well. It doesn't really matter how you look at it."

I started to walk out the door to follow my other teammates, but Neji caught my shoulder, roughly turning me around. His white eyes looked at me hard. "You just need to go in there and find out what they're sacrificing the girls for. Lee will be able to sneak passed the guards, he's fast enough, and can get you out of there when he does. This IS going to work."

Despite his reasoning, the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach didn't fade. I smiled at him though, surprised but grateful that he was at least trying to make me feel better. "Thanks Neji." I said. He released my shoulder, and we both went out to train with Gai.

The next two days were hell. Gai pushed me for hours and hours and hours on the basic taijutsu exercises like pushups, pullups, laps, kicks, punches, ect. Even worse, I was improving so slowly that by the time came for me to be dressed up and sent off, I didn't feel any more confident about my abilities.

Leno had told the village leader what we were going to do, and he was relieved that at the very least he wouldn't have to find another girl from the village. Leno escorted me in my non-ninja clothes to the edge of town, where the village leader was there to wait. He would be the one sending me off with the big baddies.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. The village head was a kind old man with gentle eyes and white hair. He was very elderly though, and looked extremely fragile.

I gave him the most confident smile I could muster at the moment. "It's already done. There is no turning back."

He nodded gravely. "From me, and the rest of the village, we thank you for helping us, and I wish you the best on your journey."

"Thank you sir." I said, trying to smile. I had nervous butterflies in my stomach, and it took everything I had to keep my hands from shaking.

Gai had gone over the plan with me a dozen times the last few days. I had to try and find out what they were sacrificing the girls to and why, and in 5 days Lee would come and get me out of there. That was the plan anyway.

We were only waiting about 15 minutes before, out of nowhere, 3 masked ninjas appeared in front of us.

"Is this the girl?" the lead one asked, looking me up and down. I tried to keep my face indifferent, hopefully hiding the fear I felt.

"Yes." The village leader said with a slow nod.

"who is she?" the man demanded. Uh oh, we hadn't gone over that yet.

The village leader did remarkably well though, and without even hesitating he answered, "she is an orphaned girl. Her parents died in a fire many years ago."

I looked to the ground, trying my best to play the part of sad orphan.

That seemed to be good enough for the head mask ninja because he grabbed my arm roughly and in one move had thrown me over his shoulder. "Let's go!" he barked at his companions, and just like that they all shot off, heading for the castle.


	6. Chapter 6

I waded through unconsciousness for a while, trying to realize up from down as I slowly began feeling my body come back to me. My head throbbed, and I was laying somewhere that was extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't exactly the ideal situation.

For a moment, before I opened my eyes, I prayed that when I finally opened my eyes and looked around me I would find myself in my familiar room, on the floor with Kylie snoring not too far away. I prayed it was all a very strange dream and as soon as I woke up, it would all be over.

Apparently I wasn't praying hard enough.

I opened my eyes to a classic dungeon. Stone walls, metal bars, and a hard uncomfortable bed that had a paperthin blanket and a pillow that felt more like a rock. Ah, the good life.

I walked to the bars and took a deep breath. "Hey!" I yelled as loud as I could without actually screaming. My voice echoed through the dungeon, and I walked back to my bed to wait for them to let me out.

There was a little window way above my bed, but it was too high for me to see out of, and too small to climb out of even if I could reach it. This guy wasn't giving me a whole lot to work with.

There was an echo as I heard a heavy metal door being opened and footsteps as someone decended into the dark dungeon space. It was one of the ninja, glaring at me from beneath his mask. "What?" he growled gruffly.

"First of all I'm starving. I don't know why you're locking me up, but if you wanted to kill me there are better ways to do it." I huffed rebelliously. They wouldn't kill me yet, not if they had other plans for me.

"They'll give you food later." He sneered, already turning to leave.

"But I'm hungry NOW." I insisted. "Where's the bossman? I want to talk to him!"

That caught his attention. "you have no business with the lord." He snarled, immediately on defense. He hesitated before saying, "I'll see if they have anything for you to eat."

I beamed at him. "Excellent, thank you!"

He came back about half an hour later with some bread and an apple. I thought about complaining, but decided not to push my luck for now. I lay back on my hard bed and thought about my next plan of action. Plan 1 was to find out what was going on here. Plan 2 was to escape before I was sacrificed. Plan 3 varied a little in details but it was basically getting back to the apartment long enough for Ky to make me something chocolate, then sleeping until I was 80.

Slowly it began getting dark out, and I had no other visitors. Boredom was a terrible thing, especially when in a small cell. I counted ceiling tiles, chipped pieces of stone, and may have even started talking to myself a little bitty bit. No, I wasn't crazy, I was really just that bored.

As the sun went down, so did the temperature and soon the thin blanket wasn't cutting it. I stumbled my way blindly until I hit the bars, and called up again. Within a few minutes I heard the door open and the guard come down.

"Now what?" he demanded.

"It's fr-r-reeezing," I shivered, my teeth chattering animatedly.

He didn't say anything, but I could barely make out him turning around and going back up the stairs. I wasn't sure if that meant he was going to do something or not, but I returned to my bed and curled into a ball, shaking a little bit from the chill. I almost sighed in relief when I heard the door open and the guard come back.

"Here." He snapped, as a blanket was pelted into my face. Rude much? "Now keep quiet and quit causing trouble." Oh buddy, I haven't even begun causing trouble yet.

I wrapped myself up in the blanket, which did a halfway decent job warming me up this time, and drifted uncomfortably off into lala land.

The next morning started out quite a bit the same. A guard brought me down a little food (I didn't even have to call him this time!) and beyond that I was left alone. It wasn't until late evening that I got an unexpected visitor.

I heard the metal door open, and figured it was the guard until I heard more than one set of feet decending. I looked up from my tile counting (423 btw, it was my third time checking) and watched for my visitor.

He was a young man, tall, goodlooking, almost businesslike, with two ninja masked guards behind him. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, not bothering to even sit up. I don't' know why I wanted to have such a bad attitude, but I figured I was either going to be sacrificed and die a horrible painful death, or I would be saved by Team Gai, and a bad attitude wasn't going to affect either one much. The least I could do was piss him off.

"Look at me," he ordered. I turned my head enough to stick out my tongue at him, then looked back to the ceiling to continue my counting.

"feisty I see." He commented dryly. I heard him put a key into the lock and the metal bars swung open.

I moved into a sitting position immediately, almost reflexively. It was one thing to taunt the bad guy from behind bars, another thing when those bars disappear. I watched him step into my cell, eyeing him warily.

He stood in front of me, only a couple feet away looking me over carefully, and I wondered if I could just make a run for it. I mean, the cell was open. Then again, there were two guards down here with him, and who-knows-how-many more above. I would never make it out.

"Looks like they gave us a cute one this time," he said to his guards, almost as if I weren't here at all. "Too bad."

"And why's that bad?" I asked, trying to sound bored but keeping a careful eye on my captor.

"I havent' found a girl yet that has survived the transition." He said, a strange look in his eye.

"What transition?" that didn't sound very healthy.

"The 6 tailed, wolf spirit. It needs a body, and I've been trying to find it one." That set off alarm bells all the way from my toes to my forehead. 6 tailed wolf spirit sounded almost as bad as the 9 tailed fox.

"And why would you think I can hold it?" I tried to keep my nervousness out of my voice, though I don't know how well I succeeded.

"I don't." he said bluntly, "but I'll keep searching until I find one who can." Bastard

"Well that sucks." The words slipped out before I could even think about them, and I wanted to slap myself for saying something so stupid. True, but stupid.

"Indeed." His dark eyes glimmered with something that I tried not to identify. "but maybe I can have some fun with you first." Oh shit. Now I was really in trouble.

I tried to keep my calm, remembering the taijutsu they'd been teaching me over the last few days. "Sorry, but you aren't my type." I said flippantly.

His eyes narrowed, and I held my breath, waiting to see what might happen. "We'll see." Was all he said. His hand shot out, grabbing my wrist with an iron grasp.

I yelped and tried pulling away, but he didn't budge. In a quick movement he bit his free thumb and pressed it against my wrist, using that hand to form some chakra signs. I felt something weird wrap around my arm, finally settling around the bones of my wrist, a faded marking surrounding it like a bracelet.

Yomi released my arm, and I drew it back immediately, studying the strange marking. "That is a chakra seal. It means if you try to escape, and leave the property it will activate and blow you into pieces." Cheerful guy, wasn't he?

"Good to know," I shrugged. Well there goes Plan 2. On the bright side Plan 1 was accomplished. Though I didn't know how I would be able to relay the information to the others if I was trapped in a itty bitty cell.

Yomi watched me for a moment. "In a few days, you'll be begging for my attention."

Wow was this guy conceited. He was good looking, but not THAT goodlooking. "Like I said," I told him sweetly, "you're not my type."

He turned around without another word and left, a guard locking me back up as soon as he was gone.

The next few days passed in a boringly similar fashion. A guard would feed me twice a day, and the rest of the time I was alone in my cell, slowly losing my mind. I had pretty much accepted my imminent demise, and even deluded myself into believing that dying here might bring me back to my world. Yomi came to visit twice, only for a few minutes each time, checking to see if I'd changed my mind about his "fun." I was still very uninterested.

On day 5 I waited to hear something, anything, that would indicate an intruder. This was the day Lee was supposed to come rescue me, but as night fell, there was nothing. I gave up trying to listen and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next day passed in the same way. Food, nothing, nothing, food, time to sleep.

Finally, one week after I was kidnapped, something changed. I was laying on the bed (which I had now sadly gotten use to) and was counting the tiles on the wall (722) when I heard, "Psst, Tawny-chan."

My head snapped up and I saw Lee crouching down by the edge of the cell, hiding in the shadows. I wondered how he managed to get passed the guards upstairs.

I rushed over to the cell. "Hey Lee, what took you so long?"

He looked at me earnestly. "You have my apologies Tawny-chan, I had trouble slipping passed the guards to get here. Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I found out what they're planning. They're taking the girls and trying to put the 6 tailed wolf spirit in them. They're trying to create a jinchuriki." I told him quickly, glancing up at the top of the stairs to make sure no one was coming.

Lee's eyes widened. "That is awful! We must get this information to Gai-sensei at once! Stand back and I shall break the door open!" he announced, already preparing to kick it in.

"No Lee, don't!" I said alarmed, "even if you get me out of the cell, I can't leave." I showed him the marks on my wrist. "He put on seal on me, if I leave the property I will apparently blow up."

Lee slowly lowered his foot, examining the marks on my wrist. "This is a very powerful seal. I cannot break it." He said regretfully. "We will need to change the plans. I will speak with Gai-sensei. According to the pattern, he will not attempt the sacrifice for another 3 days, so we will have until then to save you."

I had a bad feeling in my gut, but I nodded. "Okay, don't get caught on your way out." I warned him.

He gave me his signature goofy wink. "I will not."

I sat up late thinking about my meeting with Lee. I had a feeling something would go very wrong in their rescue attempt. I didn't know what it was, but my gut told me that something wasn't right.

Finally I fell into a restless sleep, deciding to worry about it tomorrow.

I was startled awake as I heard the door open above the dungeon stairs. I blinked sleepily as I looked around. Oh right. Captured, about to be sacrificed. All that good stuff.

The sun had barely come up, and there was only a small amount of light in the room. What were they doing here so early?

I noticed Yomi first, looking the same as he always did as he walked to my cell. I just looked at him, waiting to explain.

"It's time." Was all he said, opening the door as a guard came in and dragged me to my feet.

"For what?" I asked confused, still too tired to actually comprehend what was going on.

"To find out if you're worthy of the 6 tailed wolf." He might as well have thrown cold water on me, I was awake instantly.

I wasn't quite sure what to say as I was dragged up the stairs and through a maze of winding hallways. Lee had said I was safe for another 2 days at least. What the hell was going on?

I stayed quiet as they pulled me into a giant room. It was completely bare except for the a table in the middle, which was surrounded by elaborate markings on the floor. It didn't look very promising.

About 8 ninja along with Yomi came into the room, two ninja tying me down against the table as I struggled. Once I was firmly tied down Yomi came and stood over me, his dark eyes boring down at me in satisfaction.

"So tell me, what do you think about me now?" he murmured, one hand roughly grabbing my chin so I had to look at him.

"Well from this angle, you're even creepier," I told him. That earned me a slap across the face.

My cheek throbbed as the ninjas positioned themselves around the outer edges of the circle. They began chanting something in a weird language, making hands signs in unison. I felt the power begin to build as the chanting grew louder and louder.

I felt the chakra swell, it was like a tidal wave, ready to crash on me. The circle contained it, but it grew and grew, larger and more threatening every moment. I struggled against my bonds, but I couldn't get loose.

Then all at once the wave crashed on me, the chakra forcing its way into my body. The pain was indescribable. I'm pretty sure I screamed, but I couldn't hear myself over the roar of the energy flowing into me.

I vaguely realized something was happening beyond the circle, and suddenly the circle was broken. I looked on as ninjas fought, realizing after a moment that it was my team that was fighting them.

Neji was at my side, shaking me. "Tawny!" he snapped, for whatever reason his Byakugan wasn't activated. Why wouldn't he have his main weapon out?

They had come to save me, they had really come. I couldn't really process anything through the pain. The circle was broken, my team had come to save me.

"We're here to get you Tawny," Neji said, desperately shaking me. "Stay with me."

"You're too late." I whispered. The ritual had been completed. The beast was inside me. And now, everything went dark.

AU Thanks to you guys who are sticking around! Sorry it took so long to update!


	7. Chapter 7

I was falling. It was a deep dark pit with no end and no bottom, just falling farther and farther into nothingness. It felt like eternity, was this all there was after death? A deep, dark abyss? It was my version of hell, so much worse than anything else I had ever experienced. And it hurt. Every piece of my body ached as though on fire was burning through my veins.

I looked down, and for the first time I thought I saw a light. It was dim at first, but after falling for so very long, it was something. Soon it got brighter, and brighter, and before I knew it I crashed into it.

I could hear voices, quiet murmurs as I waded through the darkness, slowly finding my way back to consciousness. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I felt a pressure on my hand, and I was pretty sure I heard crying too. Slowly the voices started to make sense as I swam my way closer to the surface of the darkness.

"The chakra from the 6 tailed wolf has stabilized in her body. Her lack of chakra already present is probably how she made it this far. I don't know if or when she will wake up. This is beyond anything I have ever experienced." It was Tsunade, sounding stiff and professional.

I tried to make a noise, to say I was awake, but they had something crammed down my throat, making it hard to even breathe. I tried to move too, but I felt like I was pinned down.

"But she'll survive this?" That was Neji, coming from somewhere beyond Tsunade.

"I don't know. Like I said, I have never experienced this before." She answered.

Of course I'll survive it you moron, I thought. I mean, it would be so lame if I died on my first mission. I heard quiet crying coming from beside me, and a "There, there" come from Sakura. I realized the person crying must be Kylie, and I felt overcome with guilt.

Slowly I managed to open up my eyes. It was so bright that I winced. Tsunade was standing by the bed, looking at the other members of the room. Kylie was sitting on a chair next to the bed crying, holding one of my hands tightly, Sakura standing next to her trying to comfort her. A few feet away from her was Naruto, looking stressed and quite a bit less hyper than usual, and even Sasuke was here, standing against the wall farthest from the bed. On the other side of the room was team Gai, Rock Lee and Gai were standing in the corner, Lee pacing nervously while Gai watched his pupil. Tenten stood next to Tsuande on my left, opposite the side of Ky, and Neji stood a few feet behind Tenten.

There were 9 people in the room, not including myself, and not one of them noticed I was awake. Sue me, but I was a bit irritated.

"What are her chances?" Gai asked gravely. "In your best medical opinion."

Dude, I was awake! Ugh!

"I don't know," Tsuande said. "Maybe 50%."

Kylie let out another sob at that, and I squeezed her hand. Her head shot up, eyes red and bloodshot. I wondered how long she'd been here crying. "OhmyGod, she's awake!" Ky yelled, on her feet. I tried to make a noise but I couldn't. All eyes immediately turned to me.

I lifted my hand up. We both knew a minimal amount of sign language, so I could at least spell a message.

I moved my hand slightly, spelling out the message as best I could.

"What's she doing?" Tenten asked, "Hand signs?"

"No it's sign language." Kylie said, watching me carefully. "She wants the thing out of her throat."

Tsuande looked at me critically. "Im sorry, but it's important to keep it in there, it's keeping your lungs from collapsing."

I made another few hand movements.

"Tawny don't you dare!" Ky gasped at what I said. I glared and she reluctantly translated my message. "She said if we don't take it out she'll yank it out herself."

"She'll be okay. Her lungs are less damaged than most of her other organs." All eyes turned to Neji, who had his Byakugan activated and was directing it at me.

Tsuande looked between me and Neji for a moment, then apparently decided something because she came over and carefully removed the instrument crammed down my windpipe.

I gasped in a breath when it was gone, letting out a groan at the pain it caused, but Neji was right, I could at least breathe on my own.

"What the friggin hell happened?" I asked, but my voice was scratchy and hurt. Actually, everything hurt. Every time I tried to move anything I'd get a sharp pain from that area of my body.

Kylie looked at me, her eyes shining with tears. "Th-the spirit thing entered you and messed up your body. You were convulsing and shaking and your heart even stopped."

"How did we get back so fast?" I managed to get out, but it brought on a round of painful coughing.

"Gai-sensei brought you back, we returned a day later. You've been unconscious here for nearly 5 days." Tenten said, watching me with worry all over her face.

Finally, I decided to ask the question I didn't really want to know the answer to. "How badly am I hurt?"

"For whatever reason, you and Kylie do not have chakra networks," Tsuande said slowly, "when the chakra of the spirit beast entered your body, it forced its own way through your system, creating pathways that were never meant to be there. It damaged many of your organs, including your heart, lungs, liver, and many major muscle groups, which is why you're in so much pain. Your body was never meant to handle chakra, so either you will adapt to it, and the extra chakra will heal you, or…" she trailed off, not looking at me.

"Or…" I pushed.

"Or your body will reject the chakra, and try to force it out, in which case it will probably kill you." She finished.

I blinked. Well that wasn't too terrible, at least compared to other things. I laid back and closed my eyes, feeling beyond exhausted.

I wondered if they had an animated version of vicodin here, to kill the pain. My arms and legs throbbed, and my chest burned as if I'd swallowed soup that hadn't had time to cool.

As if reading my mind Tsunade gave me a button. "This will put you to sleep and give you something for the pain. Just push it when you want to get knocked out."

I nodded. "In that case, now would be a great time. But I'd rather not have you all watching me sleep." I added, hoping they'd get the message.

"I shall come back to check on you later my pupil! You were very courageous and I'm proud of you." Gai declared, ushering the other genin out of the room.

"I'll visit you tomorrow!" Tenten said as she was being pushed out by Gai.

Kylie and Tsuande stayed in the room as everyone else filtered out.

"I'm not leaving." Kylie said stubbornly.

I gave her a grin. "I didn't really expect you to, but you should go back and get some rest, you know I love you but you look like hell."

She sniffed. "You had me scared to death."

"I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose." I said,

"But still! You should have been more careful. You had no business being a decoy when you haven't been properly trained." Ky sniffed, looking like she was about to start balling again.

"Chill Ky, I'm gonna be just fine. A lot of sleep, some of your awesome cooking, and a shitload of chocolate, and I'll be good as new in no time." I told her with a strained smile. "Now go home and get cleaned up while I take a nice long trip to lala land."

Kylie nodded reluctantly, and hesitated getting up. She threw one last worried look at me before she went out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

"That was brave of you, going into that situation with such a lack of experience." Tsunade complimented, checking all the tubes and gadgets sticking out of me.

"Thanks. So tell me doc, what are things probably gonna look like from here? Will I be able to use the chakra from the wolf?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know. For now you should just focus on recovery. We have to make sure that the chakra stabilizes in your system before we look any farther ahead. I'm going to do some research as well, to see if there is anything that may help the transition," Tsunade said, "and I should warn you now, it will not be a pleasant few days while it does stabilize. Your body will be going through a tremendous amount of stress as it tries to adjust to the chakra. That button you're holding will become your new best friend."

Well that was a cheerful thought. I knew I could survive this though, I just had to have faith and fight it. "Okay, well unless you have any objections, I'm gonna head into wonderland. I have a mad hatter I need to find."

Tsunade looked at me strangely, obviously not able to understand the reference, but seemed to understand that I meant sleep. "Okay, I will start looking into some jutsu that may help."

"Thanks doc," I said pressing the button twice.

I layed back and started counting, wanting to know for reference sake how long it would take for the drugs they gave me to knock me out.

I got to 26.

I was in a cage. It was a big cage, but there were bars on all sides of me, and far above my head. They kept me trapped in darkness, as I wondered how I got here.

I had to wonder why I always ended up in the creepy places.

"Because that's where you imagine us to be." A female voice said from behind me, raspy but strangely soothing, reading my thoughts.

I shot around, suddenly realizing I was in my mind, where the 6 tailed wolf was. As I turned around, I was greeted by a strange sight.

It was indeed the wolf spirit, but instead of being ginormous like the nine tailed fox it was small, only slightly bigger than a regular wolf. It wasn't as physical as me, it was made up of blue energy, shaping it, as the chakra radiated around her. It was scary, but for some reason she didn't appear threatening.

"It's because I'm not here to hurt you," she said, reading my thoughts again. Creepy much?

"Then what are you here for?" I asked cautiously. From what I'd seen from the epi's, I wanted to tread carefully around a tailed beast.

"I'm here to make a bargain for you." She replied smoothly, curling up comfortably on the ground, her tails wrapping themselves around her like a coat. She looked at me and then to the ground, expecting me to do the same.

I sat slowly, crossing my legs but keeping an eye on her. "What kind of bargain?"

"You have my chakra now, whether either of us like it or not. If you should survive the transition of it, then I think we could be useful to eachother." So far not to bad.

"So what are you proposing?" I asked curiously.

"I give you full access to my power, on two conditions." She purred, looking at me with bright eyes.

"I'm listening." And I was. If I could find a way to harness her power, I could be a decent ninja.

"The first is that my power is never to be used as part of the Akatski organization again, and the second is that should you be in a serious risk where there is a real danger to you dying, in which case I would die too, you summon my physical form using a summoning jutsu." She said.

My mind reeled to a halt, on both conditions. "Wait, Akatski? When did they have you?" I asked baffled.

She studied me like I was slow in the head. "The young lord who was trying to imprison me in those girls was a pawn for the Akatski. They gave him my soul with the condition he find a vessel for it."

Okay made sense, now onto the second condition. "And how the hell am I going to trust you out and about on your own? If I summoned you, what is to say you wouldn't do the same thing as Shikaku and the Nine Tails?"

Her nose went up in a huff. "I am nothing like those untamed barbarians. They simply want freedom for the sake of destruction."

"And why do you want it?" Again, I was curious.

"In all honesty I don't really care if I'm free now or not. It would be nice, seeing the world again for my own eyes, but I don't mind seeing it through yours. My condition is based on the fact that if you die, I do as well, and should you be close to death, that I could save both our lives." She licked her paws absently.

"I absolutely agree to the first one. I will to the best of my ability ensure you will not fall into the hands of the akatski. As for your second condition, it sounds reasonable enough, but I want to do some research just to make sure you're not feeding me a bunch of crap." I decided.

"Alright. Let me know of what you decide." She said, standing up and turning around, her tails swinging behind her.

"Wait!" I called before she disappeared. "What should I call you?"

"Makade." Was all she said, before disappearing into the darkness. The cage faded from around me, and again I was lost in darkness.

Author's note. Hey guys! Thanks so much for sticking with me! I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and I'm finally getting a handle on where I'm going with this!

Just for reference, Makade is an Native American name for "Wolf" I didn't know what to call her, so I just went with that!


	8. Chapter 8

Tsunade wasn't wrong, the next few days were hell. I drifted in and out of painful consciousness, waking up at random sporadic times. Often times I would have a visitor or two, usually Kylie and some other random person from my team or hers. I didn't stay awake more than a few minutes at a time, long enough to check my progress, before the pain became harsh enough that I used my new best button friend.

On day four though, I was in for a bit of a surprise. As I opened my eyes, the room was empty save for one person standing in the shadows in the corner of the room. It was Sasuke. He watched me silently for a moment, then walked over to stand closer to my bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his face not giving away any emotion. Stoic as ever I guess.

"Freaking fantastic," I said sarcastically. "Never felt better." Actually I was feeling better. Even though my body throbbed, slowly the pain was beginning to lessen, thanks to Tsuande's research I was betting as well as my body adjusting to the chakra.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" I asked curiously. It was late evening, which means someone probably convinced Kylie to go home for the night. But why was he still here? Then again it wasn't like he had much to go home to; a dark and empty house filled with memories and silence was all he had waiting for him.

"I came to remind you that you agreed to go to dinner with me." He stated simply.

I half laughed before flinching from pain. I was really going to have to talk to Makade about this transition thing. It hurt like a bitch. I turned my attention back to the brooding ninja. "After all this you still want to go on a date?"

"I never said it was a date," he said quickly, his eyes snapping away from me to the wall, the window, anywhere but me.

"So you don't want to go on a date with me?" I clarified, just to screw with him. Hey, I had been laid up here for days, a little torture would be good for my recovery.

Sasuke opened his mouth, then snapped it shut again. "Alright, fine. Call it whatever you want."

I thought of Ino and Sakura, how furious they'd be when they found out I was still going on this date with their beloved Sasuke. I played with the idea a bit.

"Alright, I have not forgotten. I appreciate the reminder." I said with an affirmative nod. Was that all he was here for?

Sasuke turned towards the door but hesitated, like he didn't quite want to leave. I decided to spare him some trouble. "Would you mind staying for a few more minutes?" I asked, "I want to try staying awake for a bit longer before I go unconscious again."

Sasuke nodded and sat back down. I really was grateful to have the company, and we talked for about an hour about my recovery, and what's gone on in my absence. Tsunade had apparently been slowly whittling away at certain areas of my body, manually trying to create chakra networks to relieve the pressure on some of my vital organs. Kylie had been refusing to go to any training, coming here early every morning and staying until someone persuaded her to leave in the evening. Team Gai had all been a bit bruised from the mission, but no one had been seriously injured other than me.

"When do they expect me to be out?" I asked him, shifting a bit in the bed. It was much more comfortable than the one in my jail cell, but I was really beginning to miss my full sized plush bed at home.

"Well when you're not knocking yourself out every time you wake up is a good start," Sasuke said dryly.

I gave him a halfhearted glare. "And when do they expect that to be?"

"Best case is in a few days, and the worst case is a couple of weeks." He said with a shrug.

I nodded, wincing a small bit from pain. It wasn't easy staying awake this long, and I could see that Sasuke knew that too.

"Looks like you've reached your limit for today." He said as he stood up.

I nodded, pushing my handy-dandy magic drug button. I wish this thing was over the counter available. These drugs gave me the best sleep I'd had yet in this world. Maybe Tsuanade would let me take it home with me? Pfffft. Yeah probably not.

"Thanks for the company Sasuke," I said as the drugs started kicking in.

He gave me a silent nod and watched me as I drifted back into the darkness.

The next morning was bright and beautiful. I woke up as Tsunade was coming into my room to check on me, looking just as cheerful as I usually did at 6am.

"How do you feel?" she grumbled, glances to make sure all my hoozits and whatzits were in order.

"Better," I answered honestly.

She nodded slowly, "You're making a good recovery, you should be out within a week or so."

I thought about Makade's offer of chakra and hesitated. I needed to get information on this, but I was scared of the reaction I would get. Tsuande knew up close and personal how dangerous a jinchuriki could be.

"Um, Lady Hokage?" I asked politely, deciding it was now or never.

She glanced at me suspiciously. "yes?"

"Can I talk to you about something?" I hoped she didn't overreact, but I wouldn't be able to blame her if she did. Entering into a deal with a 6 tailed wolf didn't sound like a good idea even thinking about it.

Tsunade sat down on the chair and looked at me expectantly. "What is it?"

I took a deep breath and explained the offer Makade had proposed. Tsunade was silent during my entire explanation, and when I finished I didn't dare look up at her; I only stared down at my hands waiting for her to say something.

"It seems like a fair deal." She said finally, after a few minutes of silence.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? You don't think it's trying to use me?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter if it's trying to use you or not. If you're at the point of dying, it will likely take over whether you want it to or not. The fact that it's asking permission is impressive in itself. Besides that, if you have chakra you will be able to become a full ninja. It will give you a fighting chance."

I nodded. I would tell Makade about it next time I fell asleep, since that's usually where I could find her.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts as Kylie came in, looking relieved to see me awake. "You look less like hell than before," she said, her way of telling me I looked better.

"You don't," I snorted. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was slightly ruffled, proof that she hadn't been sleeping well.

"I'll leave you two alone," Tsunade said, standing up and moving out the door without another word.

Kylie took her vacated seat and pulled a small tupperwear container out under her shirt. She handed it to me with a wink. "I figured it'd be better than hospital food."

I opened it and my mouth watered. Teriyaki chicken over fried rice, heavy on the garlic. My favorite. I ate my present and me and kylie talked like we hadn't seen eachother in years. We laughed, we gossiped, we strategized about what would happen on my (now official) date with Sasuke Uchiha.

It was about 3pm, as we were discussing Kylie's role as Team Seven's official cook, that the atmosphere changed.

Kylie stopped mid-sentence the same moment that a chill crept up my spine. The room darkened, and I realized suddenly there were no sounds coming from outside the room. What was going on, this was supposedly a busy hospital.

Ky edged toward me, as we both looked around the room for the intruders. It was in the far corner, where the shadows were blackest that they came out. The first thing I saw was his eyes, Sharingan eyes, so my first thought was it was Sasuke before I realized that they were too tall. I knew Kylie figured it out the second I did by the small gasp that left her lips as the rest of his body emerged.

Itachi Uchiha was here.

Ky clutched my hand tightly as he walked closer to us, silently assessing the situation. His eyes flicked from me to her, then back again.

"Wh-what do you want?" Kylie asked nervously, her hand becoming painfully tight on mine.

"Yomi said she accepted the host. We needed to see it before we ever believed such a thing." Itachi's eyes flicked again to me, from behind him came a shark of a man – quite literally. Kisame walked up behind his partner, his sharp teeth in a vicious grin.

"You're coming with us girls. If what they say is true, neither of you had a network, and we have more plans," Kisame looked at Ky and I realized what his plans were. They had another spirit they wanted to implant, and they wanted my best friend to do it.

"Leave us alone!" I said, sitting up, but flinching in pain. The monitors beeped as I slowly detached them from my arms. How could I do anything hooked up to Cal here? I was sad when I had to disconnect my magic button.

Kisame laughed loudly, where was everyone? "You can't even sit up, what can you do? And your friend doesn't have any chakra, so she can't fight us. If you don't want to get hurt too badly, do what you're told."

Before I could say anything, Itachi was in front of us, eyeing me with his sharingan. Staring into those hypnotic eyes, my brain got foggy and I slumped forward. He grabbed me before I slid off the bed, throwing me over his shoulder.

"Kisame, get the other one." He ordered softly. "If you scream, I'll have to hurt your friend." He added to Kylie as Kisame went for her.

No! this was bad, really bad. Not only had I promised Makade that I wouldn't let her fall into Akatsuki hands, but now Kylie was in them as well. We were so screwed.


End file.
